


Darkness of Silence

by Squishiez



Series: The darkness of silence [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, BAMF Keith (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Black Paladin Keith, Canon-Typical Violence, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Druid Lance (Voltron), Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst, M/M, Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Mutual Pining, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Season 3, Spy Lance (Voltron), Water Manipulation, Waterbender Lance (Voltron), Waterbending & Waterbenders, but maybe a bit worse, corrupt quintessence, half galra keith, klance, quintessence manipulation, red paladin lance, someone save lance, sort of BAMF Lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-06-09 06:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15261618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squishiez/pseuds/Squishiez
Summary: The Galra empire was growing and the rebellion.. it was shrinking. Team Voltron was lacking information."I can go in. I was in drama club, y'know. They wouldn't even know I wasn't on the galra side."The rest of the paladins couldn't even fathom the idea of lance sneaking into the galra and joining their ranks just for information. It was too risky."But you're not a galra.""I'm a paladin though! They'd want information just as bad and if we make it believable, we can make it look like I'm some angsty bad guy who wants revenge on my own team."They all disagreed. Except for Keith. It was a good plan if pulled off correctly. Lance was capable. They had been training together for a moment like this forever. Shiro was gone, Keith was the leader and he had faith in his team, especially Lance."Just remember what I taught you.""I will."Too bad things don't go that well.Lance comes back different every time.





	1. Prologue

Training with Keith was exhausting. Lance had always been  _the sharpshooter._ He wasn't one who focused all that much on hand-to-hand combat, it wasn't his thing. Though the galra seemed to be stronger than usual, in strength and in numbers. It was like the galra was growing instead of shrinking. When Keith first suggested that they train together, Lance was offended. He hadn't asked anyone else to train more nor did anyone else think they needed more physical training but Keith thought Lance did. 

 

Lance was upset, offended and it hurt to think about.

  
  
Until...  
.  
  
_"No, I want to help you!"_

  
  
_"By calling me out as weaker than the rest?"_

 

_Keith shook his head, sweat forming on his brow. His eyes scrunched in frustration as he took a step forward, getting closer to his Cuban teammate. He looked frustrated. There was something else in his violet eye but Lance couldn't quite interpret what the look was. He had never seen Keith wear such an expression before. It was new._

 

_"Listen, I was wondering... if I taught you hand-to-hand, I thought maybe you'd train me how to shoot better."_

 

_Lance almost stopped breathing. He felt his chest tightening. There was just something so pleasant about what Keith said. At the Garrison, Keith was the perfect student who caused Lance and all of his teachers to belittle him because of his competition but seeing him like this reminded the Blue Paladin that Keith really was just a normal guy. Well, he was still half Galra- but it was just nice knowing that Keith was able to admit that he wasn't some perfect person._

 

_They could improve together. It all seemed kind of nice._

 

_Besides, it was kind of uplifting. The great Keith Kogane wasn't just talking to Lance McClain, but wanting to learn stuff from him in exchange for also helping Lance._

 

_Was this what being a proper teammate was like?_

 

_"Wait- so you just want to learn from each other? This isn't some prank, right?" As much as Lance wanted this to be real, he had thought Keith hated him. They were rivals, always trying to do better than the other. This really could have been just some sick joke but usually, their pranks and jokes never got personal. It was usually small bickering. So, Lance had hope._

_"Why would I joke about this? we're in a war, Lance. If we want to win, we have to be at our best. I don't use a gun much so my aim is probably rusty and you always use a gun. We can learn from each other." Keith looked away awkwardly, not quite used to having such an open conversation. "Do you.. want to?"_

 

_Lance did nothing but nod._

* * *

"Stop," Keith commanded, both paused their punching. "Your footing. If I were to hit you hard enough to cause you to fall back, you'd break your ankle, Lance. You have to be careful because just getting that angle slightly wrong can mess you up. All it takes is one slip up for the fight to be over and you have a sword through your chest." 

 

Lance grimaced. Keith was always brutally honest during training because he expected the same from his fellow paladin but still, Lance hated to think of death. Death terrified him. He was in a war he didn't sign up for and he refused to die before going back to his normal life with his family. Maybe that's why Keith mentioned it, to motivate him. 

 

Still, it always caused goosebumps to form down his back and under his paladin suit.

 

"Jeez, Keith. Brutal." He smiled. Trying to lighten up the atmosphere but it didn't seem to work since Keith only shook his head.

 

"Listen, you're  _Lance,_ I don't expect you to be serious about everything, your brain is too small for that but this is a war. If you don't wanna die. Being serious in combat is important. You can't let your mind slip at all. No jokes on the battlefield, only in your free time." 

 

"I get that-" Lance's eyes widened in realization at Keith's words. How dare he turn serious advice into an insult? "My brain is not small, Mullet!" 

 

"Is my hair the only insult you got?" 

 

"Well, no but-"   


He had no time to finish his statement before Keith smirked, bringing a fist an inch from Lance's face. The boy hadn't even seen it coming. It was sudden, his mind didn't even interpret that he was supposed to dodge it but luckily, Keith wasn't serious about trying to hurt him.   


It was a test and Lance knew he failed it. Was he not taking it seriously enough? 

 

"Don't become distracted by an opponent. It gives them an opening." 

 

Lance sighed. They had a lot of work to do. 

* * *

 

 Two weeks passed. Lance wouldn't call himself the best fighter but he was definitely improving. It was never something he was good at. In the training room levels, for long range, he was already on level twenty-seven but for close-range he was stuck on level twelve. Though, with Keith's training, he finally found himself moving on. He was on level fifteen now. He'd never admit it out loud but he was grateful for Keith's training. It was slow but there was definitely an improvement. 

 

There probably could have been more improvement if they weren't always so busy on missions. Galra activity had been more frequent than ever. Everyone was exhausted, the two couldn't train if they could barely keep their eyes open. Lance was surprised that Keith was so lenient when it came to Lance resting. If Lance seemed worn out, Keith would suggest a water break. If Lance got too frustrated, Keith would let him go breathe for a few minutes to get his thoughts together before trying again. If there were nights when he was injured in battle or just exhausted, Keith told him to go relax. Still, that didn't mean they didn't train. Worst of all, Keith liked to train in the early mornings.

 

Lance's least favorite time of day.

 

 Though, he had to admit, waking up to see Keith making alien protein shakes was a little humorous and.. well... he didn't know what to think of Keith's little morning ponytail in his hair, or the towel wrapped around his neck waiting to be used after a busy morning. It was nice. 

 

"Oh, it's you. You managed to wake up on your own for once." Keith chuckled and Lance tried to hold back a smile but inevitably failed. A large grin found its way to his face.

 

"Pfft, you just wake up way too early. I'm always on time." He snickered.

 

"How are you on time when half of the time I have to come and wake you up?" Keith raised a brow and had his full attention on the Cuban boy. Something in Lance froze up like he couldn't figure out what to say now that the raven-haired boy was scanning him with his violet eyes. 

 

"Well, maybe I like having you be the first thing I see in the morning." 

 

Oh. 

 

Lance did not expect that to spew from his own mouth. Maybe he was thinking it but definitely didn't plan to say it. It was true. Having Keith wake him up in the morning was nice. Waking up to see someone there reminded him that he wasn't alone. That someone, even if it was Keith, was there for him. He had felt so lonely recently. Being away from his family for so long felt so wrong but Keith helped keep his mind off of that. 

 

He looked at Keith and the other boy immediately avoided eye contact, looking back at the cups he was pouring the shakes into. There was something Lance noticed immediately. 

 

Keith Kogane was blushing. 

 

Blushing? Did that comment get Keith flustered? Lance shook his head and sighed, it was impossible. Him and Keith were rivals.

 

He would never admit it but Keith was too good to ever fall prey to one of Lance's flirts. Keith was  _Keith,_ the top student at the Garrison, an outstanding paladin, and overall just a great guy. Lance couldn't compare. He studied so hard at the Garrison but just could never do well during tests. He'd get so scared during exams. No matter how much Hunk and Pidge tried to help him, his grades just couldn't rise. The blue paladin wasn't sure how great of a paladin he really was. He was improving but he needed to improve more. He wanted to be at least close to Keith's level. 

 

"Allura's up, I talked to her before coming in here. She said she's going to wake everyone up in about two hours. A shake isn't enough to keep you running all day and you'll probably need a shower and your dumb skincare routines. So, We're only going to do simple training today. Only about a half hour worth of learning." 

 

That sounded nice. He got a nice shake, he only has to train for thirty minutes, then have some space goo and maybe relax in his room for a bit while taking care of his skin. 

 

Keith walked over to Lance, two cups in hand. When they were finally face-to-face, he outstretched his hand a little, offering the blue cup to the other. Lance stared into the contents of it once in his grasp and it always looked surprisingly good for alien ingredients. It almost looked like a mint chocolate chip milkshake from the ice cream shop his sister would take him to when he was little. 

 

"Thanks, man. As for the schedule, this is something I can agree with for once." 

 

"Even if you didn't, it's what we're doing." 

 

Lance rolled his eyes. Keith always tried to take charge of stuff but they were both training each other.   
  
  


In fact...

 

"Keith? Why don't I get to train you today? It's been two weeks of this and I only got to train you three times." 

 

it took a little convincing but eventually, Keith agreed. Lance smiled. Today's schedule was almost perfect. 

 

Until the alarms went off. Lance couldn't help but groan in aggravation as Keith ran off before they could even step a foot in the training grounds.

* * *

 


	2. Chapter 2

Running to Red's hangar felt like it was taking forever. Everyone was telling him to hurry, Keith was already at his lion but for some reason, it just felt like the branch to the hangar was getting longer and longer the more he tried. He didn't understand. He could hear Red's worried whimpering in the back of his head. She didn't seem to know what was going on with him either. 

 

All he knew was he was angry. He didn't want to go on a mission. Something didn't feel right. Plus, he just wanted to train with Keith. What happened to that perfect schedule? Nonexistent, things just never seemed to go his way anymore. He wasn't very eager to start this mission. The Red Paladin concluded that it was those thoughts that must have made him unconsciously run slower than usual. Lance knew he couldn't be selfish and forced his legs to move faster even if they felt like Food goo. 

 

So when he got to his lion, he took a deep breath and smiled tiredly as he felt an encouraging presence probably coming from Red. 

 

 "Thanks, girl. Just woke up on the wrong side of the universe." He laughed full of pity at himself. He couldn't believe his humor had been reduced to this. 

 

"Alright, you guys! Take off!" 

 

The red paladin rolled his eyes at Keith's order through the communicator. Everyone hummed in confirmation but him. There was no need, it wasn't like Keith was going to call him out for it or anything. Besides, he had to come up with a joke to tell later. There was no way he was going to let Keith get away with saying  _Take off_ like they were some stereotypical astronauts in those corny sci-fi movies that Hunk and Pidge picked up from the human section in the space mall. 

 

Speaking of those movies, they hadn't been able to watch one in a while. Voltron had been so busy lately. The galra were always ruthless but now they seemed more determined than ever, constantly attacking new planets and entering galaxies they had never been to yet. Their weapons were advancing and the druids had been silent for a while only to come back more powerful than ever. It seemed Zarkon's disappearance really shook up the balance and everyone was fighting back harder than ever, not wanting to be beaten by the mighty Voltron like expected.  

 

It only made things harder. There was never freetime anymore. It was odd to get used to. He went from being a student at the Garrison, he had school for six hours, a one hour workout time, and then the rest he'd sit around with Hunk, sometimes Pidge, and just hangout. There wasn't that anymore. he couldn't just relax and be  _Lance._ Now he was either fighting the galra, training with Keith, or in a cyropod. 

 

He'd never complain about such things to the others though. 

 

They were going through the same thing and he knew it was selfish to chew their ears out about something they already knew and faced themselves. Sometimes he thought about talking to Keith about it. The two Paladins understood each other. Though, he wondered if Keith even ever relaxed before they became apart of Voltron. Keith was an orphan who did nothing but study to get into the Galaxy Garrison, he was there since the beginning of elementary school. Lance hadn't gotten in til the beginning of junior high! Then right after that, Keith's father died and Lance heard rumors how it took it's toll on Keith. He'd take late night hikes and study the stars as a child. Then he met Shiro. He finally had something going for him, only for that to get taken away too. When Shiro was rumored dead, Keith did nothing but try to debunk that and find him. The guy seemed like he was never able to relax. 

 

So, If Lance were to bring up how he just wanted to rest, would he seem weak, or irresponsible, or even self-absorbed? He didn't dare to find out. He'd rather keep it to himself. Still, it would have been nice to get it off of his chest. 

 

Maybe, if the mice promised not to tell Allura, he'd talk to them about it. He, of course, wouldn't know if they'd promise. He'd have to guess. 

 

" _Lance! Watch out!"_

He snapped out of his thoughts quickly when Allura's warning blared through his helmet. His eyes opened wide to inspect what was going on, only to see a giant space rock coming up quick. He yelped slightly, grasping the controls of Red. His breathing was erratic as he hurried to fly under the giant chunk. He took a deep sigh of relief to know that Red barely touched it, it wouldn't leave anything more than a scratch. 

 

That didn't mean he wasn't going to get scolded. 

 

"What the- Lance! Pay attention!" He heard Keith say.

 

He knew this mission was not going to easy or fun whatsoever. 

* * *

He was always back up. It meant that he didn't do as much. He felt like he lacked skill. Pidge was going in with Keith. She had to hack the system, open all of the prison doors. Keith was her protection, as soon as those doors opened, the galra would be looking for Pidge and Keith would be there to defend her. Hunk and Allura were going in and getting the prisoners, leading them to safety and making sure none of them got attacked or put back in captivity. Then there was him. 

 

He stayed by the lions, where they were hidden quite well. No one was going to spot them. Allura said his job was to make sure they didn't get taken or to make sure no new ships came in and started to attack without them knowing. He could hear yelling in the coms. Yet, he sat there fidgeting his thumbs, sitting against Red's leg, but staring over at Blue, still wondering why she ignored him. 

 

"Keith, there's a few more coming your way, be careful. They should be coming from your left." He heard Hunk. His speech had a little more static. He must have been further away. He must have been helping those on the higher levels of the prison. There was six floors. There was a lot of people to save. While Keith an Pidge must have still been on the second floor, trying to find a good escape route to take. 

 

"Got it. Thanks, Hunk." 

 

The response was quick and Keith sounded out of breath. 

 

What was going on? He knew they were probably being attacked but he wanted to be there, making sure everything was okay. 

 

Time passed so slow it seemed. He guessed they were there for about twenty minutes before things turned sour.

 

 _"Lance-_ ... _we.. now! Pidge.. hurt. ''_

 

He couldn't even hear what the black paladin was saying. All he knew was that he heard Pidge and hurt in the same sentence. That was enough for him to run off faster than he had ever before. 

 

He ran up the long head of stairs, his lungs burning his chest. He continued like that until Keith shouts and sound of metal tumbling and bolts flying got louder til he could swear everything was happening right in front of him. 

 

Pidge could be hurt. That was all that mattered. The pain in his chest, the burning of his legs, and the sense of dread that the thoughts running through his head made meant nothing. 

 

"Lance, watch out!"


End file.
